"The players are obviously disappointed, but we need not have heads down about that," Löw said."For Germany, going into the final is something special. The Spaniards had the best chances today and they deserved the win,"

"I'd like to congratulate Spain and their coach, because we have to recognise the high quality of their play. They played really well during the whole tournament, and today they were technically excellent and had more chances than us. They deserved to win. The team performed very well over the 45 days we've spent together, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed it, but we were very ambitious too. This defeat is going to be an incentive to work hard over the next two years in a number of areas and to improve, so that in qualifying we can reach our target of playing in the World Cup. For some time, our focus has been on playing without the ball, ball possession, fast passes and direct contact. This is important in football, particularly at high speed and under pressure. We're aware that Spain are very good at that. Over the last two years we have shown that we're also fast and good at combinations. Looking at the last few tournaments we're right at the top in Europe and the team in recent years have learned a lot. They have developed well but we know we must not lose energy and strength - we must go on working and improving. from tv.com

Four days after arriving back in Germany, Jogi appeared at the DFB Congress in Frankfurt. He spoke of all the emotions - pleasure, joy and disappointment - the team has experienced, and praised the fantastic mood of the supporters. More on dfb.de - 4 July 2008

"Technically the Spanish have a lot of quality. Their players are always playing in the Champions League, at the highest possible level, and challenging there right to the end.""In their training the Spanish are highly committed to quality and you can sense that in their youth teams."When it comes to keeping possession they are extremely strong. During the first 15 minutes we did quite well but then we lost our rhythm and Spain became quite dangerous and when they have the ball they are really dangerous."

(On Michael Ballack)"I was glad when he and the physios indicated on the afternoon of the game that he could play," Löw said. 'It was important to have him on the pitch and good to have him there."He is very important for our team always and he did a lot of special things in this tournament.He was our leader and he represented the team and Germany superbly."When asked if he deserved a medal, Löw replied: "Yes, he does."(On Jens Lehmann - and retirement)"I didn't speak to him about that," Löw said. "I said 'congratulations, you played very well, the best in this tournament'.He is also a leader in our team and very professional. I told him 'thank you' for what he did." - from ESPNsoccernet

"It is clear that we will bring in new players, but there will be no full overhaul.We reached the final in a tournament played on the highest level," he said. "That is a big success. We have become stable in the past two years. But there is a lot to be improved.""The Spanish were a very good team all through the championship," Loew said. "We have to recognize their quality ... Should the Spanish come up again in a championship we will beat them. We were crazy with disappointment and sadness, but I think that coming second was a great achievement for us. The team has performed amazingly in the last two years and we can all be proud that we were in the final."

"It is very special for me to be in the final. I cherish this moment"The coach did not reveal whether he will use the same motivation program on Sunday as he did ahead of the semi-final when he showed the players a DVD with footage from the big German crowds at the fan zones."I showed them the millions of fans supporting us," he said.

"I feel lucky.""I have a feeling a special kind of luck is with us now and will be with us in the final. We can look forward to the game with no pressure at all.We have more than reached our expectations, so the burden of pressure is no longer on our players.We can go out and play with fun, joy and enthusiasm - and that will bring us what we desire. We can win all we hope for - and that is the spur we need.It was hard in the semi-final because so much was at stake. But we got what we wanted because of the mentality of my team.We know what it takes to win like that, even when we don't play well."

"If you look at the other teams, the Dutch also had a bad day in the knockout stages (beaten 3-1 by Russia) and we are fully aware we haven't always played to the best of our abilities," said Löw."There is always room for improvement, but this team has shown they can bounce back from difficulty and have shown resilience. You have to give this German team credit, because even in the difficult stages of games, they always try to play some attacking football."

Blunt Aragones meets suave Löw in style clash - 27 June 2008The differing characteristics of the two coaches are highlighted with Jogi described as looking "younger than his 48 years thanks to his floppy hair, ironed trousers and designer shirts."

"Sure, we haven't been as consistent as we would have wished so far but we have seen strong sides such as Portugal, Croatia or the Netherlands who couldn't win games when it really mattered," he said. "The important thing is that we continue to believe in ourselves, produce the winning mentality on the day and at the end, win the game.""Neither team (Spain/Russia) is in the semi-final by accident and they are both capable of playing excellent football," he said. "Russia can play incredibly quickly, are technically and physically strong and can bypass the midfield at pace. Spain have world class players such as [Andrés] Iniesta, Xavi [Hernandez], [Fernando] Torres and [David] Villa. I wouldn't like to make a prediction on the outcome of tonight's game.""For me, progressing to the final is a wonderful experience," said Löw. "At the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup against Brazil and in the 2006 World Cup against Italy, I was twice co-trainer of losing semi-finalists. To have made it now is something very special and I am very much enjoying it."Germany's Löw upbeat and looking forward to clash with Spain

"My insight from that is one must keep a team permanently under pressure in order to be successful. In the third group round they used replacement players and this tactic did not prove to be beneficial," says Löw, who admitted that "even though we did not always play with the desired outcomes we have been successful in reaching the finals. And that's what counts"!